Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 27 Apr 1994

Vol. 442 No. 1

Written Answers. - US Embargo on Cuba.

Enda Kenny

Question:

62 Mr. E. Kenny asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Cuban Democracy Act signed on 23 October 1992, also known as the Torricelli Act includes further stringent conditions relating to trade with Cuba which includes a prohibition on vessels engaging in trade with the United States if they have entered a port in Cuba during the proceeding 180 days; his views on whether the effects of this Act are causing undue hardship to the Cuban people; if he has had discussions, as Ireland's representative at the EU, with the American Government on the consequences of this Act in the context of its damaging effects on bilateral EU/US economic and trade relations which is clearly incompatible with the principles of the EU/US transatlantic declaration; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Enda Kenny

Question:

63 Mr. E. Kenny asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason Ireland, as a member of the European Union, voted against the UN resolution on 28 October 1993, on the economic, cultural and financial blockade against Cuba; whether Ireland should take a stand in respect of the rights of the Cuban people to develop economically in view of the ending of the cold war and the disappearance of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Enda Kenny

Question:

65 Mr. E. Kenny asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has contacted the American Ambassador in respect of the lifting of the economic blockade imposed by the United States of America upon Cuba; if his attention has been drawn to the consequences, economic and social, for the Cuban people arising from the blockade; his views on whether these consequences are equitable in terms of human rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Spring)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 62, 63 and 65 together.

The United States embargo on all political, economic and commercial relations between the United States and Cuba was instituted in 1962. The embargo does not preclude other countries from developing trade and commercial links with Cuba, nor has it prevented the provision of humanitarian aid to Cuba.

The normalisation of relations between the United States and Cuba is essentially a bilateral question for those two governments. I regret both the continuing poor relations between the United States and Cuba and the circumstances which underlie that situation. I have already said in relation to this issue that it is my hope that the changes that have taken place in international relations in recent years will create the conditions for an end to Cold War animosities everywhere.

Ireland abstained on the recent resolution in the United Nations General Assembly because we believe that this situation is better addressed as a bilateral matter between the United States and Cuba rather than being made the subject of a motion amounting to censure in a multilateral world forum such as the United Nations General Assembly.

The US Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, however, introduced a new extraterritorial dimension to the embargo. Ireland is opposed to this. We have made this clear to the United States and, together with our partners in the European Union, we took the opportunity of the recent vote at the United Nations General Assembly to restate our opposition to the Act and to reject American actions designed to implicate third countries in US commercial measures.